MANCHESTER, Mo. (AP) – Five years after St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson launched an effort to increase enrollment at the region’s Catholic schools, enrollment continues to decline.

That led to an announcement Friday that John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Manchester will close at the end of this year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2d8Dkga ) enrollment at many area Catholic schools has dropped significantly in recent years. Kennedy Catholic High’s freshman enrollment this year was fewer than 50 students, half what it was two years ago.

In 2011, Carlson visited Kennedy Catholic High to unveil a campaign called “Alive in Christ,” with a goal of filling about 1,800 vacant seats in the region’s Catholic schools. The initiative planned to use more revenue for scholarships and push for state tax credits for tuition-paying parents.